


Prom Issues

by punkflaming0



Series: Teen!Jack Dalton [1]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Homecoming, Prom Night, ep related, jack and matty need to get married, jack is so precious, teenage jack - Freeform, young jack dalton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 18:48:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16540157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkflaming0/pseuds/punkflaming0
Summary: If Jack needs a crown to feel loved, his family will give him one.





	Prom Issues

**Author's Note:**

> have fun kids!!! grab tissues!!

**T e x a s ,  1 9 9 3**

 

Jack runs upstairs wishing nobody had seen him. But mom sees everything that happens in her house.

 

"Jack." She says shortly, almost cold. "Here."

 

That's enough. Jack breathes deeply and goes back go the hall where's his mom is waiting with her arms crossed and glasses hanging on her neck with  fake pearls.

 

"How was the prom?" She asks softly now, adjusting Jack's tie. "Why you home this early?"

 

The boy couldn't hide his frustration. He opens his mouth and closes it at least twice before deciding on not telling anything. He just can't tell his mom his disappointed with his friends for not choosing him for homecoming king.

 

" 'm not good" He frowns. "I have a headache."

 

"Sure you have." She winks at him and opens her arms, offering him a hug, which he accepts with gratitude.

 

Jack hugs mom tightly. He wishes he could live there, in her arms, under her protection, without the need to prove his friends his still 'cool', without the need to graduate in five years or to survive without breaking to his father's darkest days. If he was at least the prom king, people would look at him and think "oh wow he's so loved".

 

When mom finished the hug with a kiss on her kid's forehead, Jack was holding back some tears.

 

"Go talk to pops, tell him you're prom king." Mom smiled, adjusting Jack's hair. "Tell him with details, you know he loves parties."

 

"Yeah, I know" He finally smiled - his seventeen to eighteen years old face showing no wrinkles. "Gotta give him details about Mr Simpson dancing like a duck."

 

"Good." She smiled to the mental image of Jack's mathematic teacher dancing. "Go upstairs now and I'll bring my boys some pie."

 

To Jack's frowned face, mom only grinned.

 

"I'm Margot Dalton, you can't say no to me or my pie."

 

Jack really couldn't say no. While mom walked to the kitchen, he run upstairs to his parents room. Dad was there, all eyebags and dark circles, a new book about to be finished and a pile of meds on his bedside table.

 

"Hi"Jack said from the door, scared of interrupting something. "You busy?"

 

"You kidding me?" Jack Sr smirks and puts the book on his thighs. "Never too busy to talk to my favorite prom king."

 

"Another Dalton, another prom king." The younger Jack lied with a smile, getting close to the bed. "Be proud of me dad, they love me."

 

"Of course they do, you're a better version of me." The older said with a smirk. "And the girls?"

 

Young Jack blushed, from clavicles to forehead. 

 

"Nah, dad. 'm good."

 

"Good means what?" Jack Sr coughed moving in bed to offer his son more space to sit comfortably.

 

"Means I'm focusing on my future."

 

"No girls?"

 

"Maybe" Jack was so red he looked like a bomb about to explode. He couldn’t tell dad about his insecurities.

 

"And where's your crown?"

 

"Oh dad..." Jack was ready to lie again. "I lost the crown to the crowd."

 

"A rockstar." Jack Sr said with a huge smile. "I knew you'd win."

 

"How?"

 

"Because i know they love you enough to make you their king. You're popular, that means you're doing right with your life."

 

How could he tell pops he's not that loved? He couldn't. Period.

 

"Mr Simpson was there?" Pops asked after controlling the cough that made his eyes water.

 

"Yes!" Jack smiled, relieved for the conversation changing the route. "He looked like a duck, with the flu." The teenage Jack in a suit tried a weird dance to match with his story.

 

"I'd pay to see that." The old man laughed coughing.

 

Jack - the young - didn't prolong the talk. Dad was coughing too much and needed new meds - the cough made his ribs hurt. Young Jack left the room after the pie - delicious homemade peach pie by the way.

 

But something just wouldn't leave his mind: if he can't be loved or popular, he needs to at least be useful.  _ Pops  _ deserves the best from his son.

 

So instead of going to college, Jack followed the easiest way to be recognized by his efforts. 

 

After graduation he joined the army and never came back home until pops funeral.

 

* * *

 

  
  


**L o s  A n g e l e s  , 2 0 1 7**

 

Jack wishes he could bury himself alive or just disappear after what Mac, Matty and the others did for him. The crown, the 'homecoming king' band, the colored papers... Everything he didn't have when he was just a teenager.

 

Everything changed so much since his young days, but if pops could only see how loved he is now...

 

He drove back home paying almost no attention to the road. Jack still couldn't believe the foundation joined Mac's crazy idea of making him prom king more than twenty years after his homecoming ball.

 

But the point was not what happened, but how it made him feel.

 

They wanted to make Jack feel loved, popular. They really wanted to make him feel eighteen again, it doesn't matter if it means making him feel the second option for his high school crush, or the useless kid when pops started spilling blood for coughing too much after hearing about mr Simpson weird dance.

 

Jack felt like living that night on 1993 again, except for the wrinkles and the scars, he was still the same boy and only a vivid memory like that could make him not even notice Matty's car in the parking lot when he left the car.

 

The surprise of seeing Matty in his living room with his cigar box in hands made Jack go voiceless. His treasure - pops' dog tags - were in her hands, but why?

 

Walking towards the boss, Jack tried to think about something at least funny to say but... He was wordless. Matty 'the hun' really knows everything - actually she does remember everything.

 

"So?" Jack managed to say, sitting on the sofa with the crown in hands and the homecoming king band crossing his chest. "Spill the tea, like Riley would say."

 

Matty got close to Jack and handed him the old box. The box means dog tags which means Jack Senior's memories.

 

"You didn't need the crown to be loved or popular" Matty said softly, covering part of Jack's hands with hers. "Your father loved you more than you can imagine."

 

"Who knows? He can't tell the truth now." He smiled sadly, the words coming back slowly. "And why the hell was a prom so important to him?"

 

"Because he wasn't as popular as you" Matty says without a second thought. "He was the best soldier of his team, but he wasn't you."

 

Jack's smile died to the memory of his dad's funeral. Not even half of his team showed up to carry Jack's Senior coffin. Only the loyals remained. Well, nobody wants to remember that gunpowder destroyed a soldier's lungs.

 

"Your father was a good person, yes" Matty continued. "But he wasn't you."

 

"I'm a better version of him" Jack sadly murmured, almost repeating his dad's words from prom night. "I think I'm the the best version of myself."

 

"That's my cowboy" Matty smiled, going on her tiptoes to kiss Jack's forehead. "No crying allowed while I'm here."

 

Jack just closed his eyes while smiling widely to Matty's observation.

 

"And I'm not watching Die Hard, i choose the movie" She said all authoritarian, sitting by Jack's side. "Fifty shades or The Fantastic Chocolate Factory?"

 

With no extra bickering, Jack only watched the first twenty minutes of Matty's favorite movie (the fantastic chocolate factory). He slept with his head on his boss's lap. Advantages of being her ex partner.

 

She helped him with the emotions and relaxed too.

 

Jack was still wearing his homecoming king band when he woke up in the next morning - and Matty was gone.

 

The boss only left a note:  _ rise and shine sunshine, my fave homecoming king _ .

 

Because they're family before all, and if it's important to him, it's important to all of them.

 

* * *

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey kids sorry for the short work not that deep in emotions but  
> I promise i'll write more young jack because he's my precious baby  
> and i need to write more about his relationship with dad :)  
> btw im writing something big (too big for me lmao) and i hope you guys like it.
> 
> See you guys on my next work <3


End file.
